An Alabama man has finally achieved his goal and successfully traveled the entire country, mowing the lawns of veterans for free in all 50 states, Fox News reported.
Rodney Smith Jr., 29, said he was first inspired to start his tour four years ago after witnessing an elderly veteran attempting to mow his own lawn with much difficulty.
He started the "Raising Men Lawn Care Service", which provides lawn care to those in need. Smith doesn't just help out veterans, though. He also mowed lawns for the elderly, the disabled, and single mothers, essentially offering his service to anyone who needed it most.
Up until that point, he had spent his time traveling from state to state in a car. But reaching Hawaii and Alaska proved to be a problem.
It was at this time, too, that his story and his services really went viral, with news media outlets around the country broadcasting his travels.
On June 8, Smith took to his Twitter account to announce to his over 80,000 followers that the airline had reached out to him and offered to cover his travel expenses for the remainder of his trip, thus allowing him to reach both Hawaii and Alaska and complete his cross-country tour of good deeds.
Then, he flew to Honolulu, Hawaii, and completed his mission, having fulfilled his goal and his dream of helping out veterans in all 50 states of America.
"I’ve come across so many veterans that are struggling to get their lawn mowed," he told ABC News. "If they served for our country, we should step up for them."
"This is the least we can do," he added. "This is the last thing they need to worry about."
Reflecting on the day he saw the man struggling to mow his own lawn back in 2015, Smith said, "Even before this even happened I remember asking God to use me as his vessel. He din't give me an answer the day that I asked him, not a month later, not even a year later."
"It happened a few years later and this would be that day."
In addition to his lawn care service, he also runs a "50 Lawn Challenge" project where he encourages children to mow 50 lawns in their neighborhood for anyone who may not be able to do it themselves.
Now the youth of America have been challenged to carry on Smith's legacy and help out people in their own communities.
In fact, he's taking his lawn care service international.
"Planning my '7 Continents 7 lawns' tour, which I was supposed to do this summer, but decided to do the Veterans tour," he told Fox News. "I have a few other mowing projects I am working on, but finalizing them. But my next big one will be mowing on all 7 continents for the elderly, disabled, single moms and veterans."
